Granola and Almond milk

Hunting for a good granola without all the added sugar, tones of honey or additives was harder than I expected, let alone expensive! I was even more bemused when I realised that the standard almond milk I pay around £1.50 for is 2% almonds, the rest is water.

Making my own granola means I can pack it with what I want; pecans, almonds, cashew nuts and seeds. As opposed to a bowl of oats that leaves me rummaging through the packet to ensure I get the token hazelnut before my boyfriend does.

NOTE: By making the almond milk first you will be left with a heap of chopped almonds that you can add to the granola mix

Granola

This is a rough guide as you can’t really go wrong in toasting some nuts in honey….

200g of mixed nuts

20g mixed seeds

120g rolled oats

1-2 tbsp. honey (using local honey is great for this time of year as it protects against hay fever)

60g soft dates

2 – 3 tbsp olive or coconut oil

A sprinkle of cinnamon

Blend the dates with the honey and approx. 1.5 tbsp. water until as close to a paste as you can get. Stir in all the other ingredients. Spread evenly on a baking tray and bake at 180 until golden brown (around 25 minutes).

My oven has recently died so I toasted my granola under the grill. I had to watch it carefully and keep shaking the tray up but it made it so crunchy I think I’ll do it again next time!

Almond milk

You can double the ingredients to make a larger batch but as it only lasts a few days I make min in smaller quantities.

100g Almonds ( I pre soaked mine over night to activate then)

500-700ml of water

Simply put through a blender until the mixture turns creamy then sieve into a jug or bottle. You should be left with some finely chopped almonds which you can either include in the granola, add to a cake or make some pesto.